If you're over thirty years of age, then you probably remember answering machines. What a breakthrough in communications technology! Answering machines became popular among the masses in the early 1980s as just about everyone who subscribed to a telephone service had one of those little black recording devices networked on their landline. Prior to answering machines, when placing a call, a caller was guaranteed one of three experiences: having his call answered, getting a “busy” signal, or listening to endless rings. Answering machines were revolutionary in that their use rendered endless rings as an obsolete feedback. With an answering machine in use, callers were guaranteed that somebody, or something, was going to answer the call.
While many folks, even today, still make use of the answering machine, the technology has long since advanced to what is commonly known as voicemail. Unlike an answering machine, a subscriber to a voicemail service advantageously doesn't have to be physically near his landline in order to listen to a message. Further, the digital nature of a voicemail system affords users access to many features including call forwarding, archiving, remote access, etc. The advantages of modern day voicemail are numerous.
For one to benefit from the convenience of voicemail, prior art requires that a person first subscribe to a telecommunications service. Additionally, in order to subscribe to a telecommunications service, regardless of whether such service includes voicemail or other useful features, prior art dictates that the subscriber must designate some kind of terminating device for that service such as a telephone, a modem, a PDA, a mobile telephone, etc.
Notably, the COMMUNITY MESSAGING SERVICE solution disclosed in the parent application of the present disclosure provides a novel system and method whereby a subscriber may benefit from a telecommunications service without having to designate a terminating device for such service. In addition to the need in the art addressed in the parent application, there is also opportunity for novel advancement in the art of telecommunications services associated with a subscriber's designated terminating device.
As the consuming public became more and more comfortable with the myriad features that may be associated with a subscriber's telephone service (such as voicemail, missed call logs, previously dialed logs, texting, automatic dial back, etc.), service providers, especially cellular service providers, began mixing and matching value added features in an effort to sell service plans as well as the devices, i.e. telephones, that were compatible with those plans. By doing this, if cellular telecommunications service providers intended to maximize market penetration, it worked. According to the CTIA-Wireless Association, a staggering 250 million Americans now subscribe to a cellular-phone service—that's over 80% of the population according to the last U.S. census. Even more eye popping is that the United Nations estimates that over 50% of people worldwide currently have a mobile telephone.
One Consumer, Two Services, Two Numbers, Two Telephones
Notably, as for those 250 million Americans, it's no stretch to say that many actually have multiple telephones. A 2006 USA Today study reported that 16% of telecommunications customers had separate telephones for personal and business use.
An all too common scenario entails a poor soul with multiple telephones on his hip. Inevitably, his employer has outfitted him with a company provided telecommunications service plan, as well as the obligatory telephone that goes along with it, and instructed him that his continued gainful employment depends on his not using the telephone for personal calls. As he's certain that somebody at the corporate office has nothing better to do than to watch the cell telephone bills like a hawk, a person that is probably likewise eager to keep a job, he's reluctantly obliged to also carry a personal telephone. He's one consumer with two service plans (one business and one personal), two telephone numbers (one for each plan) and, inconveniently, two telephones on his hip.
Multiple Consumers, One Service, One Number, One Telephone
The prior art has produced a number of ways to leverage a telecommunications service, in an effort to serve the needs of more consumers. A common telecommunications plan in many households today, for example, operates to provide multiple consumers using a single terminating device with personalized service plan features. Gone are the days when a household had to subscribe to multiple service plans, each plan being associated with a unique destination code (e.g., telephone number), in order for multiple household members to benefit from personalized service plan features such as voicemail.
At one time, if multiple members of a household required a personalized voicemail service, for example, each of those members had to subscribe to a separate telecommunications service and, thus, have a unique telephone number. Consequently, different terminating devices within the same household were designated for each unique telecommunications service such that “Mom and Dad” received calls on the telephone in the kitchen while “Sister and Brother” received calls on the telephone in the den. One advantage to such a scenario is that if the telephone rang in the den, then everyone knew that the calling party was trying to reach Sister or Brother. Another advantage was that any voice message deposited in the voicemail service associated with the telecommunications service directed to the den telephone was invariably intended for a party associated with that terminating device, i.e. Sister or Brother.
The disadvantages of having multiple telecommunications services coming into a single household are numerous. For one, with multiple services come multiple bills, multiple connection charges, and inflexibility as to terminating device placement within the household (for instance, in the above scenario, Mom and Dad could not “take” a telephone call in the den as the telephone jack in the den would be permanently associated with the “Brother and Sister” telephone service). As a result, service providers devised service plans whereby multiple household members could benefit from personalized plan features, such as voicemail, without the need to subscribe to unique service plans. For example, it became common for a single service plan, associated with a single destination code, to have multiple voicemail boxes so that each family member could benefit from a personalized message depository. As such, a calling party who dialed the telephone number for the household was given the option to perhaps “press 1” to leave a message for Dad, “press 2” to leave a message for Mom or “press 3” to leave a message for Sister or Brother. Advantageously, with such plans the benefit of not having a shared voicemail service could be had without subscribing to multiple telecommunications services. Therefore, multiple consumers (Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister) shared one service with one number (the common household telephone number) directed toward one telephone (every terminating device in the household).
One Consumer, One Service, Multiple Numbers, One Telephone
While the multiple consumers, one service, one number, one telephone approach had the advantage of providing multiple consumers, in a single household for example, with the benefits of personalized plan features on a common service, it was not without its disadvantages. For example, even though multiple family members in a single household enjoyed personalized plan features, such as voicemail, the single telephone number associated with the common service plan dictated that the family member targeted for an incoming call could not be readily recognized. Service plan embodiments with “caller ID” features helped in this regard as any family member in the household could check the “caller ID” on a visual display and, perhaps, determine the called family member but there was no way to uniquely direct a calling party to the correct family member. For instance, in a household, regardless of the family member being called, the calling party had to dial the single common destination code associated with the household service and, if no one answered the call, select the voicemail inbox associated with the targeted family member.
To overcome these limitations, service providers devised plans with multiple destination codes. For example, a single telecommunications service plan could be purchased for a household and multiple telephone numbers associated with the single service. As such, a household did not have to designate termination devices for unique service plans because a call placed to any one of the multiple telephone numbers associated with the common household service could be generally directed to all terminating devices in the household. Notably, while “Mom and Dad” could have one telephone number and “sister and brother” another number, all terminating devices within a household were operable to terminate a call placed to either of the associated numbers. To distinguish the destination code to which an incoming call was directed, service providers offered unique “ring patterns” so that the multiple consumers subscribing to the single service plan could readily discern which of the multiple destination codes was being called. Further, by associating unique ring patterns with each telephone number on a household service, devices such as faxes or modems could be configured to automatically “answer” the call based on recognition of the unique ring pattern.
While this one consumer, one service, multiple numbers, one telephone approach provided a means by which multiple unique telephone numbers, and the service features that go along with each, could be directed to common terminating devices associated with a single telecommunications service, many needs remained unfilled. For example, even though multiple numbers could be directed to common terminating devices, the telecommunications service was necessarily associated with a designated “primary” telephone number. For this reason, any call originating from a terminating device associated with the service would be recognized on the receiving end as originating from the primary number. So, in a scenario where “Mom and Dad” have one telephone number and “Sister and Brother” have a different telephone number, any call originating from the household would be associated with only one of the numbers (whichever was designated as primary, presumably Mom's and Dad's) regardless of the party making the call. Further, even though the “caller ID” features may be useful for discerning the source of a missed call, and by extension the targeted party within the household, a review of the “missed call log” derived from the “caller ID” function would provide no means for determining to which of the multiple destination codes the missed call was directed.
One Consumer, Multiple Services, Multiple Numbers, One Telephone
Notably, none of the prior art, taken alone or in combination, provides a subscriber with a means to fully benefit from the features associated with multiple telecommunications services without either requiring multiple terminating devices or that the benefits of a “primary” service be leveraged. For the most part, a subscriber that requires two mutually exclusive services must carry as many terminating devices. Certainly, a subscriber may “forward” calls directed toward the destination code of one service to the terminating device associated with a second service (e.g., forwarding a home telephone service number to a cellular service number), but such methodology does not avoid the consumption of services associated with the second service nor obviate the need for a terminating device to be associated with the first service. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a system and method for associating multiple telecommunications services, each with a unique destination code, feature set and billing practice, with a single terminating device such that a user in possession of the single terminating device may consume the benefits associated with multiple subscribed services without leveraging the benefits of one service against another.